Research Safety Blog

Our team is shipping out to Washington, DC for the 62nd CSHEMA Annual Conference! If you're attending this year, come visit us in booth #111 in the exhibit hall. This year we'll be showcasing our new laboratory profiling tools, exciting enhancements to our laboratory Inspections module, and our beautiful new user interface.

BioRAFT will also be hostinga breakfast event on Tuesday where Carnegie Mellon University will be presenting on how they use the BioRAFT Inspections module to replace their in-house solution, stay on top of laboratory safety, and extend their safety inspections to non-laboratory environments across their campus.

To register for our breakfast event or request a demo at our booth, please email us.

A couple of weeks ago, America celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day. I spent my day off from work thinking about what a great humanitarian Dr. King was, but also about all the other “special” days we celebrate. It seems as if there is a special day for everything.

So, I did a little research. Did you know that there are over 50 annual special days that are recognized by presidential proclamation? In addition, there are over 60 days Americans celebrate that are not presidentially recognized. These days consist of everything from Star Wars Day to Ice Cream For Breakfast Day.

It got me thinking. Why is there no Researcher Day?

I understand that everything can’t be a Federal holiday or observed by presidential proclamation, but isn’t researchers’ contribution to humanity worthy of even an unofficial day? At the very least, there isn’t one person on earth who hasn’t benefitted from taking an aspirin or cold tablet. Why do we think Record Store Day and CAPS LOCK DAY are more important than celebrating researchers?

To be fair, the National Postdoctoral Association recently celebrated its fifth annual National Postdoc Appreciation Week (NPAW). Although I applaud their efforts, NPAW doesn’t pertain to all researchers, just a subset of researchers. Why not celebrate all researchers, from graduate students to researchers who have been at the bench for years?

2014 headlines were filled with high-profile near misses at federally funded research laboratories. We couldn’t help but be reminded of how researchers put themselves at risk on a daily basis. Don’t these heroes deserve a day? Isn’t recognizing the people who devote their lives to fighting cancer and AIDS, or those who’ve enhanced our lives with better technology more important than having ice cream for breakfast?

Official or unofficial, regarding researchers I say, let’s show appreciation to those who truly deserve it and “call it a day.”